Policy & Political Action

Paramedicine in Ontario: Consideration of the Application for the Regulation of Paramedics under the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991

Submitted by nhalper on Mon, 2014-03-10 23:00

Resource Type:

Submission / Letter

Dear Ms. Lee:

On behalf of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) we support the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council’s (HPRAC) finding that:

… the applicant did not pass the risk of harm threshold. Changing the regulatory regime from indirect regulation by government to self-regulation by the profession is not in the public interest. Public safety and quality of care are sufficiently upheld at this time through the current oversight system.

Moreover, in respect to the Ministry’s ongoing work around expanding the role of the paramedic to include community paramedicine, we support HPRAC’s recommendation that:

Prudent uptake of evolutions in the practice of paramedicine will require a thorough discussion of the reasonable outer limits of paramedics’ scope of practice as well as the relevancy of paramedics’ current educational preparation.
RNAO believes that the community paramedicine role extends beyond the reasonable outer limits of paramedics’ scope of practice and is inconsistent with their educational preparation. A detailed overview of RNAO’s concerns was shared with Tamara Gilbert, Director of the Ministry’s Implementation Branch in correspondence on December 19, 2013 (attached).

We thank HPRAC and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for the opportunity to provide feedback and for carefully considering RNAO’s evidence-based submission.